Division I Men

NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Notebook: Towson Not Out of
Woods Yet

"We're still waiting on Stratton," Towson coach Tony Seaman
said of the Tigers' offensive turnaround, referencing senior
attackman Tim Stratton, who has just one goal on 10 shots this
season.

The wait had become a little torturous for the Towson University
men's lacrosse team, starting with its head coach. But finally,
after a prolific, two-game stretch that included Saturday's 9-8
upset of then-no. 5 Stony Brook, Tony Seaman hopes he is seeing a
light at the end of what had been a virtually scoreless tunnel for
the Tigers.

After managing merely 12 goals in their first three losses to
Johns Hopkins, Loyola and Maryland, the Tigers have scored 20 times
in their past two outings. Towson's huge win was preceded by a
14-11 loss at Navy.

Sophomore attackman Matt Hughes has led the offensive turnaround
with back-to-back hat tricks. The Tigers also are shooting a
healthy 37 percent (20-for-54) in their last two games.

"I don't know if this team is good enough to kid me, or if they
actually are that good," said Seaman, Towson's 13th-year coach.
"Hopefully, [the Stony Brook win] is going to do a lot for us.
We'll see about that on Saturday."

The unranked Tigers (2-4) are not that good yet. But at least
they have gathered some confidence, just in time for the start of
their tough, Colonial Athletic Association schedule, which begins
with Saturday's visit to Delaware. The Blue Hens last week upset
sixth-ranked Hofstra. Towson most likely needs to win the CAA
tournament to get into the NCAAs with an automatic bid.

While the Tigers have gone out of character by playing more zone
defense than arguably any other Seaman-coached team -- and have
done it effectively, with the exception of a fourth-quarter debacle
at Navy, where Towson blew an 11-8 lead by surrendering the final
six goals -- the Tigers were in a terrible funk offensively.
Remember that epic, 3-2 loss to Loyola on Feb. 26?

"We're getting better offensive possessions, putting more shots
on goal. Our extra man has come alive. We're getting to know each
other better," Seaman said. "We're still waiting on [Tim] Stratton.
We need him to start getting two or three points a game."

Stratton, the senior attackman who was the top returning scorer
in 2011, has just one goal on 10 shots, as opposing defenses have
hounded him. With more attention inevitably headed toward Hughes,
maybe Stratton will awaken soon.

Baltimore Four not so hot

The early returns are in, and the dirty secret is out in
Baltimore. The so-called hotbed of lacrosse is pretty ice-cold
these days, if you're measuring quality by how things are going at
Johns Hopkins, Loyola, Towson and UMBC.

Let's start with the fact that the only team to beat a top 10
opponent is Towson (2-4), which is averaging just 7.2 goals per
game.

Hopkins (5-2) beat Towson in its season opener, and has blowout
victories over Delaware, Siena and Manhattan. But the Blue Jays,
who are extremely young, have managed just seven goals in losses to
Syracuse and Princeton, which is still looking for its second
victory. The Blue Jays have lacked playmakers badly in their two
losses and will try to avoid their sixth consecutive loss to
Virginia on Saturday. Hopkins has been forced to take the air out
of the ball and play to a defense that is allowing only 5.4 goals
per contest.

Once again, it looks as if Hopkins will have to fight hard to
avoid missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1971.
Since losing in the NCAA title game in 2008, the Blue Jays are a
pedestrian 22-15, without a win over a top 5 opponent.

Loyola (3-3) has dropped three straight, including an 8-6
setback at Air Force on Saturday, and the Greyhounds have failed to
break two major habits. They continue to start slowly, and they
can't sustain any real offense outside of attackman Mike Sawyer,
who is one of the more creative shooters in the game. Winning the
ECAC and earning an automatic bid is looking more and more like a
long shot at Evergreen.

UMBC (1-4) is fading fast with a squad that is severely lacking
in size, quickness and experience. The Retrievers have been
outscored, 56-25, in losses to Rutgers, North Carolina, Hopkins and
Maryland, and will try to make some hay in the America East. The
Retrievers are 5-13 since losing in the first round of the NCAA
tournament in 2009, the year they made their fourth straight NCAA
tournament.

Breschi shakes up UNC defense

No. 8 North Carolina coach Joe Breschi said he is concerned
about how tired the young Tar Heels (6-2) have looked, after
playing five games in 17 days, including Tuesday's 12-7,
come-from-behind win over Dartmouth. But there is no doubt Breschi
was sending a message to his defense, after Carolina recently got
blitzed by Duke, 14-9. The Blue Devils throttled Carolina in the
ground ball battle.

Breschi elected to give first-time starting assignments to
sophomore goalie Steven Rastivo, senior close defenseman Emmitt
Kellar and freshman close defenseman Jordan Smith. The Tar Heels,
who visit fifth-ranked Maryland on Saturday, held Dartmouth
scoreless for the first 13 minutes of the fourth quarter, while
Rastivo stepped up to make 12 saves.

"Our thing was, we felt like we didn't play to our ability
against Duke and we felt we needed to adjust some things, tweak
some things, shake the tree a little bit," Breschi said. "I thought
the defense responded and played very well. Steve did a great job.
He made some big saves and did a great job clearing the ball as
well. I couldn't be more proud of his effort, with a tired group in
front of him, but a group that grinded it out and played hard for
him."